A Gift from the Goddess
Chapter 88

"Please forgive me, Alpha,” I heard Elder Luke quietly mutter behind me before he quickly closed themeeting hall doors.

*Click*

And suddenly I was locked in here. With them.

"Aleric... Cai,” I said cautiously, my hand already moving slowly towards my dagger. “Didn't expect toreplace either of you here of all places.”

Not only had someone broken Aleric out of the cells but they'd also succeeded in getting Cai overthe border without my knowledge. And I knew, without needing to think too hard on it, that onlyElder Luke was capable of something like this.

My mind was already racing with what was going on, analysing their movements carefully to ensureI wasn't taken off guard. If they were under Thea's influence then they might try to kill me. I couldn“tthink o f any other reason for why they would have trapped me like this.

“We can do this the easy way or the hard way,” Aleric said, taking a step forward.

And, immediately, I unsheathed my dagger and held it up defensively. They were mistaken if theythought I would go down easily.

"Who's blood is that?” Cai then asked, bringing Aleric’s attention to it as well.

“None of your business,” I bit back.

"..What the hell have you done, Aria?” Aleric growled. “Is that Lucy's scent I can smell on you?”“Nothing you wouldn't do, Aleric,” I snapped, taking a few steps forward cautiously.

I heard him then sigh quietly at that and look towards Cai. “We're going to have to go with Plan B.”And quickly, I got into a crouch and readied myself. “What is this? Did you just tell me that Lucy wasa spy to throw me off your trail? Didn't want me to suspect you of working with Thea anymore soyou could organise this? Are you all in on this? Elder Luke too? All of you working for her?”

“Not everyone is your enemy, Aria,” Aleric said. “You're sick and you don't even realise it.”

I laughed at that. “Oh, *I'm sick*? How about the person who murdered my parents?” I asked beforeturning towards Cai. “Or the person who slept with the creature trying to kill us? Did you just forgetthat taking me out is just one step closer to your own death?”

“We're not trying to kill you, Aria. We're trying to help you.”

«But then I saw it. A flash image of him charging at me, throwing me to the ground and ripping outmy

throat. Almost as vivid as a vision... but different.

“I knew it! You're lying!” I yelled, adjusting my stance. “Always lying! You think I'm going to let mydefences down this time? I won't be taken out so easily anymore. There's no silver collar to hold meback

now,"

"You should kill them before they kill you,” the voice said. “Maybe there is a way to take theirabilities. If we could gatekeep all three lineages then there wouldn't be any need for them. No moreliabilities.”

I was too focused on the situation at hand but I knew that what she was saying sounded too risky.We weren't a God and even if I could take their abilities, I wouldn't even know how to go aboutdoing that.

Just try it, she said. “Before they get to you first. Before they make the choice for you.’

Cai ended up being the first one to move, charging from the right, but I sensed his movementperfectly. H e was aiming to tackle me to the ground but he was mistaken if he thought somethinglike that would

work on me. Aleric's distraction of talking to me wasn't going to be anywhere near enough to getthe drop on me.

Instantly, his body flew past as he missed me entirely and I quickly turned to be ready for a counter.He was still too slow though. In the month since I'd last seen him, it looked as though he'd regainedthe majority of his strength but he wasn't yet back at his peak. I knew what Cai was capable of onhis best day and this wasn't it.

He tried several more attempts at landing a hit on me to no avail. In fact, it was useless for him toeven try since I could sense his attacks seconds before he moved.

“That's not going to work on her,” Aleric then shouted from the side, moving in to flank behind me.“She can foresee your movements.”

“Evidently,” Cai replied dryly, not taking his eyes off me.

"Scared, Cai?" I asked and faked a lunge forward. He immediately jumped backwards defensivelycausing me to laugh.

But the humour was cut short as I felt Aleric attempting to take advantage of the mild distraction.“Nice try,” I said and moved back just as Aleric’s hands tried to grab me.

He'd left himself open by doing this though and, utilising his proximity, I quickly brought my knifeup to get a hit on his arm, hoping to maim him. However, he was almost as fast as me, managing tomove out of the way to avoid in time,

The whole thing was reminiscent of the day before my birthday when we'd been sparring in thegym. Except neither of us had things holding us back now. For what I was lacking in brute strengthand extensive fighting knowledge, I was able to make up for in speed and foresight. And, unlikehim, I was actually armed.

The dance began as we both attacked and countered each other, now almost perfectly balancedand in sync. It was impossible to say who had the upper hand as everything moved in a blur.Perhaps it might have even gone on forever... but then I felt it;

Cai coming in from the side, deciding to finally interfere.

He looked for an opening and I sensed his next move, but I was only just able to miss it by a second.Taking on just one at a time might have given me the slightest chance of victory... but two?

And it ended up being just as difficult as I thought. The only thing giving me a real edge now wasthe knife, both of them having to give a clear radius to avoid that. If they managed to disarm me Iknew it would be over.

.. The strange thing though was that neither of them had shifted. Taking them on in human formwas only giving me the better advantage. I knew that if they were both to take their wolf forms Iwould be in trouble; my own wolf now lacking in strength since her absence.

“Kill them both,’ the voice instructed frantically inside my head.

'Do it. Before it's too late.’

“Do it."

“Shut up!” I screamed back aloud in frustration.

It was never-ending. Never enough. Never stopping. I couldn“t take much more. I just wanted myhead to b e mine again and mine alone.

"Who are you talking to?" Cai asked, closer behind me than I realised.

perty Seven

But I didn't reply

Instead, I just immediately turned around to lunge and, using my elbow to strike his jaw, I sent himstraight to the ground with a thud. The impact alone had probably hurt more than my attack.

But I didn't waste time after that and quickly jumped on top of him, using my weight to pin his armsdown. I needed to be fast because I knew he was probably capable of overpowering me in overallstrength again; him having recovered enough for at least that much. However, truthfully, I found it alittle surprising when he was barely struggling against me.

“Aria,” he yelled urgently, his golden eyes locking with mine. “Stop. This isn't you.”

And I felt that wave of electricity in the air, trying to persuade me to stop. That same energy he'dmanipulated me with for years.

..And I tightened my grip on my dagger.

Do it kill him. We can defeat Thea once we have his power’

..And positioned my hand.

FINISH IT. ..And

nei tianty toht

Chapter Eighty-Eight

“NO!” a voice yelled from behind me...

..And a wall of muscle quickly tackled me off Cai, sending us both flying along the ground andsliding several feet away.

I pushed and shoved against Aleric’s grip but he was putting everything into this. It was almostimpossible to free myself.

But I had something he didn't, something to give me the advantage here; my dagger.

And, as quickly as I could, I brought it up... Angling it and...

“Enough, Aria!” Aleric ordered and he disarmed the knife from me, throwing it as far away aspossible.” Enough.”

It was over.

“Do it then,” I spat, still wriggling in a futile attempt to escape. “Get it over with. Kill me. Just like myparents, Aleric. Is that the kind of “help’ you had in mind? Is that how you helped them?”

He growled and pushed my shoulders back down again to try and stop me from struggling.

"Yes, it is actually!” he said furiously. “That is exactly how I helped them. I saved them!”

"Stop it!" I screamed back. “You honestly think that what you did helped them? Do you just see theirmurder as some sort of messed up reversed logic where you're actually the hero? I bet that wasThea's doing. I bet she made you think that what you did was justi-."

“Your parents are alive, Arial” he shouted, cutting me off. “That's what I mean by saving them!"Immediately, my body stilled, shocked at what he'd just told me.

“No...” I said. “No, you're lying. You're just lying so I let my guard down.”

“Why would I need to do that? I could just finish you off now if I wanted to.”

“I saw their bodies, Aleric,” I argued. “I saw their blood on you. How can you possibly expect me tobelieve

you?"

“If you actually saw their blood then tell me... where were their wounds?”

And I stopped for a second. Had there actually been wounds? I'd seen their lifeless forms in mymother’s office but I couldn't recall ever seeing where the blood would have come from. I'd just puttwo and two together when I saw Aleric’s hands.

“That blood belonged to a spy, Aria. Someone posing as one of the warriors,” he continued when Ididn’t answer. “He came down to the office with me when Tytus ordered for your mother to bedetained. Except he didn't try to bring her in. Instead, he tried to kill her.”

“Then why were they dead on the ground?”

“They're not dead,” he stressed again. “They just looked that way. After the attack, your father camebursting in, having heard the news about your mother, and found me with the body of the spy. Weconcluded that he was going to try and frame me for killing your mother... so we let them all thinkthat it worked. If Thea was going after your family then we all agreed it was safer for them to bethought dead rather than alive, or at least until we could remove Tytus for full control. Your motherthen quickly dosed your father and herself with a drug to give them the appearance of beingdeceased; obviously working well enough to fool even you. But they're both alive, Aria. Your fatherhas been protecting them in a safe

Chapter Eighty-Eight

location outside the pack all these months, waiting for me to give them the okay to come back.”

I looked at him, battling inside over whether I should believe him or not. On the one hand, I wasstruggling with how it contradicted what I thought I saw... but on the other hand, I really wanted itto be true. i

"... Then why wouldn't you tell me sooner?” I argued.

“When could I?! When did you even give me the slightest chance to? I've seen you once in overthree months and it was after I was holding yet another spy hostage.”

“You could have told me then. You could have told me in the cells after she left.”

He sighed. “I'm just trying to protect them, the same as I have been this entire time,” he answered,his voice calming down a little. “..Only now I've had to protect them from you. I knew it the secondyou walked into the cells, Aria... you're sick. And you don't even know it.”

I started struggling again under him, trying to move free.

First he tells me a story about my parents being alive, now he was trying to say that I was theproblem. That my parents actually needed protection from me?

“No... no, no, there's nothing wrong with me,” I said, wriggling in his grasp. “You're wrong. You'rejust being used by Thea. You're-."

“Snap out of it already!”

And I stilled once more, looking up at him wide-eyed. He had that serious expression about him,the same one that made me want to believe him. Like something tugging at me inside to listen.“Fine, you don't believe me? You're so sure that you're fine, right?” he asked and pulled himself backupright, allowing for me to sit up. Risky considering I could have made a run for it. “Just see foryourself then.”

And then he grabbed my arm forcefully and stretched it out between us, his grip tight as he held itin place.

"Hey! W-what are you doing,” I said, trying to pull it back. “Stop.”

“Look Aria,” he ordered and he proceeded to slide his hand down the inside of my arm along myskin.

“I don't... I don’t know what I'm meant to be looking at. Your hand? My arm?”

"You're eighteen, Aria,” he said as if that was going to make things any clearer.

"And..2"

But he just sighed, obviously unimpressed by my answer. “And what happens after youreighteenth?”

“I frowned in thought, looking at where he was still holding my arm. What was he talking about?Shifting maybe? Was he referring to how my wolf was absent? What would that have to do with myarm though?

..But then I finally realised what he was referring to.

..And a cold feeling of dread quickly spread throughout my whole body.

“Wait... No...,” I whispered in shock and grabbed back at his arm frantically, touching his skin overand over again. “No, no, why can't ... Why isn't it there?”

Selene had said there was no changing it, that it was set in stone the moment of our conception. Sowhere was it? I knew what this was supposed to feel like, I'd lived a life of knowing the exactsensations that should be there.

But there was nothing.

Aleric was my mate... and I couldn't feel the mate bond

Chapter Eighty-Eight

"..Where is it?!" I asked, panic filling my voice. “Why can't I feel it?!"

And I quickly looked up into his eyes, full of sadness as he quietly watched me, and everything camecrashing down. Just his look alone was enough to tell me that, whatever this was, it really was justmy side who couldn't feel it. That I was the problem.

No sparks, no pull, no feeling of relief from being near him.

Just... nothing.

..And a tear fell down my cheek as I held his gaze.

"..What's wrong with me?”

I hadn't thought about it much since I already knew from my prior life that we were mates. I'd livedfour years already knowing he was tied to me so it just felt like any other day. Somehow betweeneverything that happened with Tytus, with my parents, with losing my wolf, with becoming Alpha... itjust slipped my mind. Something so important and yet I'd forgotten in between all the chaos.

But then why wasn't it there? Why couldn't I feel it?

Was I actually sick?

..And I realised that if I really was the problem, if something really was wrong with me, didn’t thatmean Aleric was maybe telling the truth? Were my parents alive?

It started to feel as though I couldn’t breathe and I began questioning everything that hadhappened over the last few months, instantly overwhelming me

“The second you walked into the cells, it was like all of my anger and frustration just immediatelyevaporated. Almost as though the world just completely stopped. and there was only you,” he saidquietly. “It was like nothing else I'd ever experienced and words couldn“t come close to properlydescribing it. You'd already told me previously that we were going to be mates but I guess I justdidn’t expect for it to feel like... that.”

I knew what he was talking about even though I hadn't felt it in this life. I could still vividly recall thefirst time I'd seen him in the past, how it was meant to feel and how world-changing it was.

But then he took a deep breath, his jaw tightening “Except the person who entered was acting asthough nothing was different, as though we hadn't just felt the most intense emotional pull of ourlives, forcing us to gravitate to one another. Instead, you just looked at me coldly, speaking wordsthat I would have never expected you to say. Behaving in a way I didn't even recognise to be youanymore. And I knew something was wrong.”

“I-I'm so confused,” I said, frowning. “I dont understand how this happened. Why I can’t see you asAnd I immediately remembered where I'd heard something like this before this ability to affect one’sperception of the mate bond. After all, they'd done something similar, yet the exact opposite, toCai.

Thea.

But it wasn't the same as him and I didn't have Thea hanging around... so how was it she was ableto manipulate me this much?

*~Click-ck—ck—ck-CK*

The metal sound of closing handcufis broke my deep thought and I looked sharply down to replace apair had been tightened around one of my wrists, immediately draining me from the silver

Cai now stood next to us, his expression completely stony as he stared down at me. Almost asthough he were looking at a stranger he detested... and I knew instantly this was his doing

Chiopie lugnty Eight

*..What's this for?" I asked and began tugging at the metal. “Take this off. Now.”

“No,” he replied flatly.

“Cai... let's just try and figure this out first,” Aleric said.

"We both agreed to do this,” Cai snapped back, annoved. “Don’t get all soft now just because she’sclose by. That's the mate bond messing with you. You know as much as I do just how dangerousshe is.”

“That was before...” Aleric said. “Back when I thought she wasn’t going to listen.”

“She didn't listen! She's still batshit insane and was ready to attack before we even had a chance totalk. Until we work this all out, we're sticking with the original plan.”

“You're not doing anything.” I said, anger flaring. “Let me out of these. Right now. This is still mypack and you'll show me respect.”

"Or what?!" Cai asked furiously, turning to me. “You're going to try and kill me for a third time? Orshould w e say fourth if we take into account the first time you held a knife to me? I really, really*tried to give you the benefit of the doubt, Aria, but there is only so much I can take. And let's notforget everything else you've done on top of that.”

“Like what?"

“Like enslaving almost half the country and forcing them to submit into an alliance? Like killingTytus? Lucy? Spy or not, she was your attendant for four years and you didn't even look remotelyshaken up. You've gone from being a girl who worked relentlessly to avoid war and needless pain; agirl who wanted nothing more than to change the oppressive system and to create a better world...to this. A cold blooded killer who doesnt even trust the ground they stand on, let alone can actrationally. If you could just see yourself clearly, you would agree.”

“Enough, Cai,” Aleric said, standing up to face him. “She's sick. You've made your point already.”"And what if she’s not?” he asked. “What if you're looking into this more than you should bebecause you just want it to be true? Hoping that the girl we both knew still exists? You know, I hadThea around me for months manipulating an artificial mate bond... doesn’t mean I forgot how to actsane. Whoever this is, she’s completely devoid of compassion, rationality... morality. I looked intoher eyes as she was about to kill me before and it was like looking into soulless holes. Not the firsttime she’s looked at me like that either.”

"Enough, Cai!” Aleric growled, grabbing his shirt. “You're not helping.”

And they both stared at each other, silently furious at one another, until Cai finally sighed.

““I'm going to go cool off outside,” he said, taking a step back so Aleric would let him go. “But Imeant

let her out of those cuffs. Seriously. Whether she realises it or not, she’s clearly one o f the mostdangerous things out there. Second only to a goddamn mortal Goddess trying to murder us

e

o

all.”

“Fine,” Aleric conceded. “But I'm not putting her in the cell. She can sleep in her room guarded.”..Listening to all of this I felt... helpless. Vulnerable. Unsure of everything I'd done.

All of my actions had felt... justified. I did what I thought I had to do in order to survive. But theyboth sounded so outraged by everything, so convinced that I was acting crazy. So was I wrong? WasI so far gone in whatever was wrong with me that I couldn't see what I'd done wrong?

When I didn't feel even the tiniest bit guilty?

It meant either they were wrong... or I was. And I was struggling to cope with everything that thelatter would entail. Who could I trust above all else if not myself?

Chapter Lighty Eight

.. Three years of making me distrust everyone.

.. Three years of convincing me I was better off alone.

..Of convincing me to kill everyone.

And, suddenly, everything I believed to be true instantly fell to pieces around me. I finally realisedhow Thea had been able to affect the mate bond.

Because it turns out that maybe Aleric had been right. Thea really was closer than any of us realisedCloser than anyone would have ever expected.

In fact, the answer had been right there the entire time.

.. Thea was inside my head.

She was the voice I'd been listening to all these years.

And I quickly realised that I really was the dangerous one.

"Aria?" Aleric asked, worried now from my silence.

But I could barely hear him, my own body starting to shake with the realisation of what I'd done.What I'd accomplished because of her.

From the very second she'd appeared, she had been pushing me away from everyone under thepretence of being a part of me. She used my previous memories and pain against me, manipulatingit in a way to make me think they were my own choices. Hell, even the very first thing she ever triedto get me to do was to pull the knife out of Aleric and let him die. Just how long had she beenplanning this? How skewed had she warped my perception of everything and everyone around me?No wonder she was always one step ahead of me.

No wonder it seemed like she wasn't making a move all these years.

She didn’t need to. She didn’t need to do a single thing.

Because she had me doing it all for her.

She'd been slowly moulding me into a weapon for years.

..And, suddenly, the sound of her laughter filled my head.

“A/N: Thanks for reading! If you're enjoying the story, please consider voting, sharing orcommenting! It all helps!